BEAST OF BUSCO GIANT SNAPPING TURTLE
The Beast of Busco is a cryptid legend from Churubusco, Indiana.
The Beast of Busco aka Oscar by all accounts is a very large snapping turtle first seen in 1898,
However despite a month long hunt in 1949, the "Beast of Busco" was never found.
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The Beast of Busco also called Oscar in honor of the original eyewitness in Churubusco,
Indiana, is a giant snapping turtle that lived in a seven acre lake.
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According to legend, one day in 1898 a farmer named Oscar Fulk saw what he described as a giant turtle living in the seven-acre lake on his farm near Churubusco.
He told others residence about the creature, but eventually just decided to leave it alone.
Then fifty years later in July, 1948, two Churubusco citizens, Ora Blue and Charley Wilson, reported
seeing a huge alligator snapping turtle (weighing an estimated 500 +pounds) while fishing on the same lake, that at this point had been named Fulk Lake.
A farmer named Gale Harris now owned the land.
Harris and several others reported seeing the creature.
News about this strange massive beast soon spread, and several expeditions were held to try and capture the big beast or at least remove it from the the lake.
Methods included draining and motor boating the lake and diving with no success, many believe he still lurks beneath the waves of that small lake others claim he has moved to newer waters the Beast of Busco.
So what was Oscar ? was there really a massive turtle or turtle like creature in that lake?
Many people claim the Beast of Busco never really existed and the story was just Oscar's (the farmer not the turtle) way of making his small town a bit more lively.
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The Beast legacy......
Today, Oscar is honored in the turtle days festival each June.
It includes a parade, carnival and even turtle races.
A turtle shell labeled "Beast of Busco" hangs in the Two Brothers Restaurant in Decatur, Indiana.
and
A small concrete statue of a turtle sits on the sidewalk at the main intersection in the center of Churubusco.
Turtle Days Festival 2021 will be on June 16-19th..
More Busco info
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At one point future town councilman surveyed the lake from a plane.
Reporters from the Indianapolis Star and a Fort Wayne gazette—along with a representative from the Cincinnati zoo—confirmed having seen the beast, A photographer from Life magazine even came to cover the story, though his pictures were never published.
At it's peak during the spring of 1949, there were as many as 400 cars an hour counted passing the farm that spring with the Harris family selling coffee and hot dogs to the sight-seers.
Helen Harris, Gale’s wife, described those frenetic days in a story posted in a booklet commemorating the 25th anniversary of Oscar. Here are some excerpts: “After the newspapers started printing the story about Oscar, people started coming to our farm from everywhere. If you never had an experience similar to this you wouldn’t believe the actions of the public. We couldn’t sit down and eat a meal in peace or get our work done on schedule. I remember one morning we were in the barn milking and a reporter came out and wanted us to quit milking and answer some questions. We told him we had to finish milking first.”
The 400 acre farm was sold in 1950.
Once the U.S. Coast Guard got involved and diving began; and attempts to hunt and trap the beast elicited responses from the Noble County Game Warden and the Indiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Eventual a 200-pound female sea turtle was introduced into the lake to lure out Oscar to no prevail.
The town of Churubusco began celebrating Turtle Days the following summer, and adopted the nickname “ Turtle Town U.S.A.”
